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Kerry Wan/ZDNETBefore there were smartwatches that could call 911 or smart rings that predicted illness, there was the Fitbit, which clipped onto clothing and counted steps and calories.The device launched in 2007 and instantly became a hit among early adopters and fitness enthusiasts. Back then, if a user wanted to view their data, they had to sync the device to a computer to see it on the Fitbit website.Also: The best fitness trackers in 2025: Expert tested and reviewedThat's worlds different from the fitness and health tech circulating today that automatically captures our heart rate and variability as it beats and displays them on a graph with instant insights and recommendations -- or notifies us about our stress levels and then offers breathing exercises to reduce them.The second decade of wearable health techWhile the first decade of wearable health tech was marked by deployment and accessibility -- getting the devices onto as many wrists as possible -- this second decade is more concerned with tracking far more health metrics than ever before and creating more discreet biotech that blends into the background of our day-to-day lives. We see this most poignantly with the dawn of the smart ring, an unburdensome and screenless alternative to the clunky smartwatch that tracks our sleep, activity, and stress, all with a battery life that lasts days longer than most watches.We're two years away from the 20th anniversary of theFitbit, the first mass-market wearable fitness tracker that fundamentally changed the health tech industry. So, what major improvement will wearable tech's third decade be marked by? These brands give us a few clues.A new take on health monitoringDuring Praveen Raja's presentation onnew Samsung Health app featuresduring the company's annualUnpacked event, Samsung's head of digital health offered a mission statement for the brand's take on health monitoring. "Our vision is to develop a comprehensive system that supports you through every stage of your health journey," said Raja. "From measuring your current health to giving you personalized health insights and coaching, and connecting you with providers and caregivers."Let's break that vision down into two categories: already accomplished and yet to be accomplished. Measuring current health? Check. Its Galaxy Watches and Galaxy Rings do that already. Providing personalized health insights and coaching? Check. Sure, they could keep improving on this one through new features and updates, but it's nearly accomplished. Connecting users with providers and caregivers? This has yet to be accomplished. But Raja implies that this connection between healthcare providers and wearable users is next for the tech giant.In other brands, it's already here. Take Withings, the maker of smartwatches, smart scales, and blood pressure monitors. Earlier this month, itunveiled Cardio Check-Up, a feature available for Withings+ members that sends heart rate data collected through a Withings device to a board-certified cardiologist for evaluation and detailed feedback, which is returned to the user within 24 hours. Withings partners with Heartbeat Health Partners, a "tech-enabled specialty care" healthcare company with the largest virtual cardiologist practice in the US, to make Cardio Check-Up happen.The future of health technologyThese partnerships are the future of health technology. And it's not just Withings catching on. Smart ring brand Oura announced in October a "first-of-its-kind" partnership with Medicare Advantage (MA) provider Essence Healthcare. Starting this year, Essence Medicare Advantage members can receive a complimentary Oura Ring and a subscription to the app for health monitoring purposes. In a press release, Essence wrote that it's the first and only MA plan to offer such a setup.Essence is a value-based care provider, which is slightly different from most healthcare in the US. Value-based care focuses more on patient outcomes in patients over time, with compensation structures that reward providers for healthier populations, compared to fee-for-service care, which compensates providers for each medical service they provide, Oura's VP of Healthcare, Jason Oberfest, explained to me.Oberfest explained that primary care faces many challenges. For one, there are a limited number of clinicians available to support patients, putting further pressure on an already outdated healthcare system. Could wearable technology not only make primary care more efficient for both the provider and the patient but also help providers identify who needs more help? Oberfest thinks so."The data from Oura really does help these care teams understand where an individual is in their own health journey and helps them think about ways they can discuss improving health choices with the individual that they're working with within a care setting," Oberfest said.Any Essence MA plan member has the option to receive an Oura Ring, and upon setting up the ring, the member is asked if they'd like to share their health information with a care team to receive more efficient care, Oberfest explained. Once they opt-in, their data is passed on to the care team. Having such longitudinal and personalized data on hand at a doctor's visit means that the care provider is comparing the data it gathers at the visit to a person's historical averages -- not national averages -- which can help them spot irregularities they may not otherwise, Oura's Shyamal Patel explained to me. When asked if this model -- providing free wearables to healthcare members to monitor their health more efficiently -- could be the future of healthcare, Oberfest said it's a very strong possibility. He also said that while Oura's partnership with a healthcare provider like Essence is a first, there are other, similar partnerships on the way for the smart ring brand in categories like metabolic, cardiovascular, and women's health.There are groundswells of stories on Reddit about people using wearable tech like Oura or the Apple Watch to get a medical professional diagnosis. One Reddit poster recounted how their Oura Ring urged them to see a general practitioner after it recorded heart palpitations and stress peaks. At the doctor, they were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. "I know it's fun to track your sleep and activity, but my Oura Ring has seriously helped me through this challenging period of my life. It helped me get diagnosed (my doctor took the data seriously) and made me more in tune with my body," the user wrote.As much as theAI doomerssay that AI will render medical professionals obsolete, the reality is more collaborative between tech that evaluates health data using AI-embedded wearables and the doctors that provide diagnostics.Apple's FDA-cleared AirPods Pro 2not only function as hearing aids but also offer users a hearing test they can take to their doctor for a hearing loss diagnosis. The same goes for theApple Watch Series 10and itssleep apnea detectionfeature.There is, of course, the question or concern that tech brands and healthcare brands could misuse or fail to protect this customer data or charge people different prices based on the data it collects on them, like how certain insurance companies offer lower rates to law-abiding drivers who install in-car monitoring devices. Given that this is merely a prediction, we don't have the answers to these concerns yet.Wearable medical devices will continue to growThe market for wearable medical devices is predicted to grow from $91.21 billion in 2024 to $324.73 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. This growth comes as the competitive barriers for the healthcare industry are eroded by "technology advancements, regulations, and data-sharing standards, and empowered healthcare consumers," as Patricia Birch and William Shea write in aCognizant blog poston the healthcare industry's challenges.Oberfest says the second decade of wearable tech is less about the simple presentation of data and more about the context the information provides to the user. "It's about helping the individual put that information in context and make better decisions every day as a result of the information," Oberfest said.Health
